Stress Under Arrest

Lee Baca chases crooks and PRs with equal fervor

On a recent hot summer morning, a shirtless and sweaty 64-year-old stepped onto the awards ceremony platform. Racing in the Los Angeles coastal community of Playa del Rey, he had just won his division in the Keep LA Running 5K. Winning races is nothing new to the man who, one month earlier, won an election to his third term as sheriff of the most populous county in the United States.

Sheriff Lee Baca commands the largest sheriff’s department in the nation. Along with a budget of $1.5 billion, he leads a force of 13,000 sworn and civilian personnel. Angelenos know him as the chief law enforcement officer of Los Angeles County. What most don’t know is that he is also an elite runner.

His race time in the Keep LA Running 5K: 20:33, not bad for a workaholic with a demanding constituency of 10 million Los Angeles County residents and a job that would break a less energetic person.

"Running to me is that you can always do better. When I race, I go as fast as I possibly can," he says, adding that his 5K time today was not on par with the 19:46 he recently ran.

Baca joined the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department as a deputy trainee in 1964. His 42 years with the organization have been marked by achievement and steady advancement.

The sheriff was first elected to the highest law enforcement spot in Los Angeles County in 1998. This year he again won a four-year term, gunning down four challengers with a commanding 67 percent of the vote.

Baca’s interest in running started in high school, as a quarter-miler. He quit after high school, then started seriously again at age 36. "I'm in great shape, and have been for 28 years since I started this adventure," he says, claiming, "I am a serious competitive runner." His disciplined training schedule and race results appear to support that claim.